


Stand by the bright veil

by laughingpineapple



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, Multi, new timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-01 23:16:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16774882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/pseuds/laughingpineapple
Summary: The persistent mystery of Thursdays at seven PM





	Stand by the bright veil

**Author's Note:**

  * For [azurefishnets](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azurefishnets/gifts).



“Now where did he go?”

Jowd emerged from the kitchen balancing a cheese tray and three bright orange cocktails, only to find Alma alone in the living room, warming her hands against the radiator. She shrugged.

“He hasn't gone incognito, has he?” he asked again, just in case.

“Cabanela?” The thought of the nation's lankiest and flashiest bundle of quirks melding with the surroundings was funny enough to take her hands off the radiator to cover the undignified chuckle that had snuck out of her mouth.

“You'd be surprised,” Jowd said without skipping a beat, and she noticed in horrified amusement that her husband was showing none of the usual tells that he was bullshitting a tale as he went along. “Once, at the tail end of a nasty undercover sting, he popped up at the station in a plain shirt and jeans, hair slicked back, talking like the gods taught us. Picture that! Picture that well, 'cause the guards couldn't: he had to go home and get his real ID to be let in. But I'm not seeing any potted plants tall enough to be the man of the hour, so once again I ask, where is he?”

“Not here. He looked at the time, jumped up - as he does - and left in a hurry. He muttered something about asking you? He sounded bashful. Well, my bad, he doesn't do bashful, but close enough for his standards.”

Jowd shook his head. He didn't know, he never did. In the memories he carried, they were never this close. If Cabanela had to make himself scarce one Thursday at seven o'clock in the evening (or all Thursdays at seven o'clock in the evening, offered Alma as she counted the past weeks on her fingers and found that since the summer he'd never stayed for dinner on that particular day of the week), he did so with plenty more ease.  _ Bye baby, see you tomorrow, seeend love to Alma _ , a wink and a twirl and he would be gone. It was intriguing, this smallest of blind spots. And fair as well.

“Not a clue! A dance class? A childhood friend returned from a harrowing life overseas? Billiard? You'd think that seeing a man bare his soul - not to mention his spleen - like that would give you a keener perspective, but I got nothing. Ha ha ha!”

“Jowd?”

“Yes, love?”

“Don't.”

“Yes, love.”

It didn't take long for them to get him back. On the following evening, they kicked back on the couch with Cabanela draped over them like an adoring starfish, head rested on Alma's lap and leaving Jowd to wrestle with long and twitchy legs. Business as usual. As they chatted and laughed, Jowd reached out to grab the closest foot and ran his thumbs in circles on immaculate white socks, massaging out the day's stress. Alma traced with her fingers the hem of his shirt's neckline and toyed with the comforting weight of the pendant he always wore, and he graciously accepted such tokens of appreciation of his illustrious presence. Dinner would be ready soon enough.

They thought they had come to know every inch of him, all the sparks and the undying fire. Jowd knew Cabanela better than Cabanela did himself; at times, in a feat that looked like magic to colleagues and friends, he could make it as far as to predict him. And yet, seven o'clock on Thursdays was  _ terra incognita _ , an undiscovered country. Jowd looked at Alma, searching for guidance, but she only smiled and patted Cabanela's shoulder, letting that small mystery lie undisturbed unless he felt like sharing. They kissed him, on the nose and knee, whatever was nearest, and stayed by his side.


End file.
